Oh, Baby: Gulf War Boomlet Likely

August 10, 1991|By MARK DAVIDSON Staff Writer

HAMPTON — Dawn Webb's son was born Aug. 2, exactly one year from the day Iraq invaded Kuwait and her husband, Mark, a Marine, was sent to the Persian Gulf.

While his birthdate was a quirk of fate, young Mark Brandon's birth was not. The fear that Mark Webb might not return from the war prompted the couple to purposely conceive a child while he was home on emergency leave in October.

``I was just so scared that something was going to happen to him and I wouldn't have a child, something to remember him by,'' said the 20-year-old who lives in Cambridge Apartments with her husband, who has since come home.

``He knew he was going to have to go back to Saudi, so we went ahead and got pregnant.''

Many wives of the men who spent months overseas in Operation Desert Storm are getting pregnant or are planning to - at least that's what Webb and some other military families predict. And some experts say that could lead to a miniature baby boom, or a ``boomlet,'' similar to, but much less dramatic than, the boom that occurred after World War II.

``I think there are going to be so many people getting pregnant it's not funny,'' Webb said.

While no major studies have been done on the subject, some demographers have said a rise in births due to Desert Storm is likely, and military bases around the country are gearing up for a burst of activity late this year or early next, according to a recent Baltimore Sun article. Local bases say they haven't seen the need yet to prepare for such a rush.

A clinical psychologist at Old Dominion University, who also is an Army reservist, says a Desert Storm boomlet is a good possibility.

``In terms of the men coming back, I think it has to do with a general feeling of celebration, that all is good in the world,'' Dr. Clare Houseman said. ``They feel this is a good time to begin a new life, maybe with a baby. Historically that has happened after a war.''

Houseman said some women think like Webb: they want to conceive a baby before their husband leaves for war in case he doesn't return. But others decide to put off having a baby until the war's over to be sure they won't have to raise a child alone.

``They might cancel each other out in that sense,'' Houseman said. ``I think if there were a boomlet it would be as a result from all the troops coming home for good.''

In addition to the psychological reasons for having babies, there is a biological one, Houseman said. The long separation heightens people's interest in sex, which often, of course, leads to babies.

When the husband or wife comes home, sex ``is probably a lot higher on the priority list than fixing the car,'' Houseman said.

A recent article in American Demographics says a baby boomlet of sorts has already begun, with 4.2 million babies born in the United States in 1990. That's more than in any year since the baby boom ended in the early 1960s.

``There is already a small boomlet going on as a result of the women from the first baby boom being at peak reproductive age,'' said a researcher with the Population Resource Center in New Jersey. ``Whether Desert Storm will increase that, it's hard to say. I suppose it's possible.''

Fort Eustis' McDonald Army Community Hospital is not equipped to handle obstetrics and refers all those cases to the hospital at Langley Air Force base, said base spokesman Ron Johnson.

While referrals are up slightly this year, that doesn't necessarily mean anything, especially since Fort Eustis soldiers are just now returning from Saudi Arabia, Johnson said.

``If there were to be a Fort Eustis baby boom, expect to see it in two or three months,'' he said.

Neither has there been a significant rise in obstetric cases at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, said spokesman Lt. Bob Rivera. The hospital's obstetrics clinic stays full at about 225 cases a month; the rest are sent to private doctors, who are paid through the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services, the military's insurance.

Records at the hospital's CHAMPUS office show a steady average of about 380 referrals a month since April, when the first battle groups started returning, Rivera said. He noted that Navy ships routinely are returning from six-month deployments anyway.

As she bottle-fed her week-old son on Friday, Webb said local hospitals should anticipate a lot more arrivals a few weeks or months down the road.

``I think a lot of women are thinking the same way as me,'' she said. ``War makes you think about this kind of thing.''